Please help me :( bonding sows sisters

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jussiecar

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I have two sow skinny pigs and they previously lived together in their original home. The lady wanted to cut down on her guinea pig home butbthe lady only wanted to get rid of one. So we went and got miss sassy who was 10 weeks. Took her home for two days and the dlady saod as my boyfriend and i looked like lovely people she iswilling to part from her other skinny pig who was 13 week. Penelope pig!

Took her home and left her alone for a day to get used tobher new home (seperate cage) i re introduced them in the bath tub tonight and all them seem to be doing is fighting. No blood has been shed but as they are hairless i worry about the nips as penelope just sees to be running away but sassy keeps chasong and nipping and makes little marks with her teeth :(

I know i shouldnt seperate until blood has shed but i dont know what to do as they have no fur to protect them from the little nips and its not penelope she isbjust constantly running away squealing and sassy runs after her nipping her and chattering and puffing :( should i just put a divider in their c&c cage and give up or let them work it out, but they havent stopped :(.

With my two normal piggies i didnt mind as they worked it out and their nips didnt bother as they had fur.

I cant do the bathing thing with them can i? As theyre skinny pigs?
 
Hi, i would seperate your girls for now and try an other introduction tomorrow, as you say without fur little nips will do more damage than they would to hairy pigs.

you do not need to wait until blood has been drawn to seperate them. the general advice is that IF blood is drawn then they must be seperated, not 'when'.

some piggies are more tricky to bond than others, your girls have had a lot of changes in their live which will have upset their relationship but if they got on well before with a little time hopefully they will rebond.

i do not have specific skinny knowledge but hopefully someone with skinny experience will come on and help you further.
 
Thankyou for your advice. I have separated them in their c&c cage with a barrier so they can still see and sniff eachother but no nibblinf haha. Here is a video of them both in their introduction about an hour into it. If someone could please watch it and let me know if its a lost cause?

[video=youtube;flGr3tDIGE0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flGr3tDIGE0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
 
Tried to edit but said it was over the 5 minute period so i apologise for double post,just thought i would add that sassy wasnt full on biting so thats why i didnt separate. It was horrible to just have to sit and watch and not intervene as many many blogs and jackiesguineapigs.com said nips and chasing is to watch out for but not separate. She did get nipped a few times but none of them have drew blood.
 
Hello and welcome.mif you are worried, I would leave the divider in and give them chance to settle and then try again in a day or so.

If they were furry, I would leave them to it but keep a close eye on them as it does sound like dominant behaviour but I am afraid I have no experience with skinnys.

Sorry, I can not view your video as it is set to private
 
piggyfan said:
When I tried to watch the video it says 'this video is private'.
Click to expand...

Apologies! I have fixed it, first time uploading a video with this phone sorry. I do hope you can watch it as i dont want to put any stress on them thats not needed :( only their interest at heart. Wouldnt want to try again if poor piggies are stressing out
 
Claire W said:
Hello and welcome.mif you are worried, I would leave the divider in and give them chance to settle and then try again in a day or so.

If they were furry, I would leave them to it but keep a close eye on them as it does sound like dominant behaviour but I am afraid I have no experience with skinnys.

Sorry, I can not view your video as it is set to private
Click to expand...

I have fixed the settings, thankyou for watching it and helping me. When i introduced my boys they were fine! a little rumble now and again but nothing like this.
 
To eachother, notbl the girls haha. Sounded bad then! I can assure everyone boys and girls will Never be in contact!
 
I can see why you are concerned about the nipping. It is part of the dominant phase but I would leave them apart over night to calm down and try again tomorrow.

you could try putting either a big pile of hay or a big plate of veggies down to try and keep them occupied.
 
Gosh it is horrible to watch. I just wanted to give the lighter one a cuddle. Usually bonding is suggested when they have food to eat as it helps to distract them. I know this is normal when bonding. How long did it go on for?
 
piggyfan said:
Gosh it is horrible to watch. I just wanted to give the lighter one a cuddle. Usually bonding is suggested when they have food to eat as it helps to distract them. I know this is normal when bonding. How long did it go on for?
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We put lots of hay in the middle with veggies and they were fine! but as soon as its gone, this was what happend after the food. I just watched it back and it looks so sad :( I was telling my boyfriend that i was recording it to put on here at the end hehe. Apologies for my spelling before! I was on my phone and the touchscreen isn't my best friend
It was so sad to watch i was actually tempted to make a sock jumper for the lighter (penelope) so she had some protection haha. Just checked her over and all the little marks she had are gone now, so no blood drawn, just little faint white scratches :(

i'll post a picture of the cage we have set up at the moment.





The two boys are on the bottom with sawdust and they have a little loft. The two girls on top,they have fleece so they can snuggle more and keep more warm, had to take their loft down to make the separation in the middle, so i know their cages look a little small as a 4X4 but I'm hoping its only temporary. if they can get alone i'll just have to build another layer or make it wider
 
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Are the boys okay? I thought they would both fight as the girls are so close that they can smell them.
 
piggyfan said:
Are the boys okay? I thought they would both fight as the girls are so close that they can smell them.
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They're fine :) i read up and so long as i hold the boys first, then girls etc and never put them in contact they should be fine! They squeak when the girls squeak but other than that its like theyre not there :)
 
I had a similar problem except mine was with a boar and a sow. I was so worried because i thought about what i was going to do. I seperated them but so they could still sniff each other and then after a day i put a lot of food in a big pile on my living room floor and put them both down, and we all know piggies love food ALOT! so they began to at together they still had little squabbles but eventually they stopped and starting to follow each other around, just try this it may work.
 
JanexxM&L said:
I had a similar problem except mine was with a boar and a sow. I was so worried because i thought about what i was going to do. I seperated them but so they could still sniff each other and then after a day i put a lot of food in a big pile on my living room floor and put them both down, and we all know piggies love food ALOT! so they began to at together they still had little squabbles but eventually they stopped and starting to follow each other around, just try this it may work.
Click to expand...


Just thought i'd let everyone know, the girls are getting on just fine now :D i puy heaps of food down and treats
And they were just fine with eachother one day.i dont know if the bathtub made it worse but i tried them somewhere else with lots of little hideys and they were fine :).
 
Great stuff :))
May they stay in love and have a long and happy life together - I find girls are much more hard work than boys :x :))
 
I agree with Claire Jussiecar, another thing to think about is if you don't feel comfortable after another try then that's something to think about. I paired two sows after a very long trial period, they wound up getting along but if I had to do it again I would not pair them.
 
just got your recent post, great the girls are getting along! Yeah! congrats! :) Lara and the gang
 
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